Snake
 

I saw this guy while trout fishing a few weeks ago. I've seen them there year after year. Anyone know what species it is?

Looks like a black snake or a black rat snake (basically same thing)

Pretty harmless, but I always tell my kids to stay clear of all snakes. Not poisonous, but any bite can cause infection...

http://www.jdmpics.com/animals/black-rat-snake-3.jpg

Common northern water snake, nonvenomous. Highly variable color and the one shown is obviously very dark but banding can still be seen. Picture shown is of the southern relative from Florida which accounts for differences in banding patterns but 100% positive on the ID.
http://www.floridabackyardsnakes.com...waterFinal.jpg

A nice reference to RI snakes can be found here:

http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatr...f/risnakes.pdf

See the comments about the Northern Water Snake.

a very good idea
 

Because there are many people who keep snakes and COLLECT snakes that are poisonous and occasionally they ESCAPE or
are just let go. Tell your kids to be looking for triangular heads .

i have know several people who secretly had many snakes they shouldn't have had in their snake cave and were breeding them.

Looks like a water snake. About the most pissed off snake i have ever encountered. They use to use my boat as their love shack, and when i would try to evict with em they would strike at me. I dont kill many things but did decapitate one last year. It was on my dock, and wouldnt go away. And wouldnt let me cross, after 2 lunges i got the ax. And they DO NOT taste like chicken.

Aside from having a disagreeable attitude, water snakes also have an anti coagulant in their saliva. Bites not so bad, but yer gonna bleed for awhile...

northern water snake for sure. Same as the one that attacked me last year. Looks like the same size too.

Agreed, common water snake.

I tried to use a small one as bait one time, it bit me good, knawing on my thumb for a couple seconds. Didnt think anything of it, since it was only 5 inches long or so. 15 minutes later my thumb was twice the normal size and itchy as hell. I imagine a bite from a big one would hurt like hell

I've been bitten by one, no worse than any other non-venomous snake bite.

I know this sounds crazy, but I've seen them try to take a bite out of peoples trout they have on stringers along the bank.

They grow huge, there are many living along the banks of the canal. Plenty of prey for them stalking the rats that live in the rocks, especially in the areas that bait fishermen leave scraps for the rats.

If any of you know my wife ask her about the one she spotted in the area of the Bourne campground. It was a good five feet long and real well fed. Scared the hell out of her.:happy:

Probably not the same snake. 1) water snakes don't usually get that big and 2) they almost exclusively eat fish.